


I Can Trust You

by spaacey



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Gem Monsters, Original Character(s), pre-jail break
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2016-02-23
Packaged: 2018-05-22 20:21:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6092923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaacey/pseuds/spaacey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steven goes on his own mission to try to help the Crystal Gems, but he finds something—or someone—that makes him question his friendship with the alien trio after they discover his secret friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Can Trust You

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be a multi-chapter work featuring Steven Universe and an Original Character I made to fit this story. When I introduce this character, I'll find some way to show you the concepts for her! This story is set before Peridot brings Jasper to Earth, but after Lapis appears. Please give constructive criticism, it helps!

Pearl gently patted Steven Universe’s fluffy brown hair, her warm and comforting smile easing the bit of disappointment he felt. “We promise we’ll be back soon. We’re just going to look at the Galaxy Warp just one last time.”  
“Even though we smashed all of the warp pads already,” Amethyst snorted as she flicked back her long white hair with her hand. “What’s the point of going there again if there’s nothing to look at? It’s just a heap of junk now.”  
Garnet’s tall figure loomed over the smaller Amethyst, who looked up at the gem with raised eyebrows. “There is still a lot of rubble left there, and we know the warp pads have been repaired once before. There could be something new. ”  
“Garnet’s right,” Pearl said, stepping onto the warp pad of the Crystal Temple. “There’s always a chance we missed something,” Steven nodded at his spot at the other side of the room. He watched Garnet and Amethyst step up beside Pearl, his chest filled with a soft ache of jealousy—he wanted to go with them.  
“See you later, Steven.” Garnet exclaimed with a soft smile, giving the short boy a wave before she and the other two Crystal Gems warped off in a flash of shimmering light to the Galaxy Warp. They had been looking for a specific gem artifact that was stolen during the war. Something that worked like a key to an abandoned temple that housed some of Rose Quartz’s fellow gems before Home World attacked. They hoped that they could find information about them, or that they could use the temple as a safe haven if Home World ever came back.  
Steven watched the gems warp back and forth from their temple to other warp pad accessible locations for weeks, becoming more and more irritated as they came up with nothing. Steven had accompanied them when they went back to Mask Island, where the hauntingly happy-looking fish and memories of battling the invisible gem monster gave Steven the “willies”. Pearl talked about visiting Amethyst’s room, where all three of them searched through mountains of treasures with a seemingly never-ending chorus of Amethyst’s complaints about ruining her system. They had found some other artifacts but they weren’t necessarily important to their mission.  
“It’s useless! If they left it here we would have found it ages ago,” Amethyst had said one day over a plate of greasy nachos that she and Steven had shared, the gems having just returned from visiting the broken-down Ancient Sky Arena. It took them almost an entire day to search the ruins despite the massive damage. “I’m getting tired of all this work. ”  
“We have to find it, Amethyst, it’s crucial in preserving gem culture here on Earth! And we’re always working, silly,” Pearl chided, her hands on her slender hips.  
Steven had listened to that and many conversations over the piece, and he felt pretty bad for them. They were always searching for something! He had wanted to go and help them, of course, but he and Connie were busy practicing their synchronized battle moves. It was very important to Connie to feel of use to Steven and the Crystal Gem’s cause, so Steven was willing to stay behind and practice with her. But now Connie went back to school with summer coming to a close, so he didn’t get to see her as often. Connie reassured him that she would be back at it every time she went on vacation, even if it was only for a day.  
He sighed as he looked at the now bare warp pad, thick brows furrowed. He wanted to help! Surely the artifact they were looking for was somewhere. Pearl explained that it was unlikely that it was taken back to Home World. Maybe it was hidden in plain sight?  
He had planned out a big search trip to carry out on his own, using Beach City as his fancy not-ruin-ruins to search through. The buildings that stood there were all built over land that had been scattered with gem artifacts and the footprints of the Crystal Gems that stood alongside his mother. People, and Gems, dropped things all the time. Amethyst was a shining example of that fact (not that Steven had much room to talk). Treasure was something that hid away for a long time before anyone found it, and maybe Steven could take advantage of that. Maybe Steven could come up successful and make the Gems proud. He loved when he managed to do something like that, he felt more like a part of the team that way.  
Not that he ever really felt like he wasn’t part of the team. The Gems had reassured him on that. But he wanted to look cool sometimes. It helped him learn, too.  
Steven made his way up the stairs that lead to the platform his bed resided on, grabbing his trusty cheeseburger backpack from the floor.  
“I need to pack some essentials if I’m going on a treasure hunt!” He grinned to himself and pulled open the drawers of his dresser, pulling out an extra outfit folded neatly thanks to Pearl’s precise laundry skills. “Just in case it’s muddy…” The outfit was stuffed into one of the pockets of the backpack, followed by a flashlight, a small first-aid kit, sunscreen, a hoodie, and several other very important tools before a plentiful amount of snacks are shoved into the bag.  
He also grabbed a small notebook and pencil he had begun using for every mission he went on. He figured that good Crystal Gems learned from everything they did. Notes seemed like the best way to remember everything, and Connie said that “notes are great for studying for big tests”.  
Steven hefted the backpack onto his back after putting sunscreen on his face and rolling up his pants further. His fists rested on his hips as he reveled in excitement, before he glanced at the warp pad once again.  
“I should leave a note in case I stay out too late or get lost,” he muttered to himself, jogging over to warp pad after scribbling “Out adventuring, if I’m not home for supper I probably got into a pickle! – Steven” in his messy handwriting. He drew a small pickle underneath the word, his face on the top half of it. That made him laugh, and the page was ripped out and placed on the ground in front of the warp pad. Soon after he was making his way up the beach, avoiding the massive hill behind the Crystal Temple. He may be a crystal gem, but a big hill could defeat even a gem any day.


End file.
